Falana urges Fed Govt to account for N50b vote for jobs

Lagos lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) yesterday urged Labour unions to make the Federal Government account for the jobs it has generated with the N50billion it earmarked for job creation in 2011.

He said: “In the 2011 budget, the Federal Government earmarked N50billion for job creation. I want to beg the Research Department of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) what has happened to the fund.”

Speaking at the pre-May Day symposium of Nigerian Centenary May Day Celebration in Abuja, the frontline lawyer urged the unions to protect existing jobs since the government was not creating new ones.

The theme of the symposium was: 100 Years of Nationhood: The Challenges of National Development.

Falana decried labour unions’ reticence on Chinese and Indian workers, who he said have taken over their jobs in various sectors of the Nigerian economy.

He said: “I know one company that has over 5,000 Chinese workers: drivers, cooks and Mai guards (securitymen). Now, I am challenging Labour, and I have done this personally. I have taken it up with the Nigerian Embassy in China. What qualifies these Chinese workers for our visas? I am now challenging Labour to defend Nigerian workers. Nigerians are just sacked because of Chinese and Indians.”

Also, the Chief Economist of the NLC, Dr. Peter Ozo Eson, noted that though the Federal Government has always churned out employment policies, it has failed to state how the jobs would be created.

He said even in the National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy (NEEDS) document, the government fails to identify sectors from which it could generate employment.

Eson added: “If more than a quarter of the active workforce of a nation is idle or unemployed; and if you add that to the rate of under-employment, then clearly that nation has failed.”

Profferring solutions to the economic malaise, the Labour leader urged the government to refocus its educational policy on skill acquisition instead of mere accumulation of certificates.